Raging Bull has put himself in the fight, like Jake LaMotta

It isn't often a racehorse can — or should — be compared to a boxer. But it works for Raging Bull.

The equine Raging Bull started his career almost as hot as his namesake, boxer Jake LaMotta. LaMotta still has the edge, with a 13-win streak to start his career, but Raging Bull also turned heads from the beginning.

At three, he won five times in seven races. He won three graded stakes, including a crowning finale in December's Hollywood Derby (G1), where he got up by a half-length over River Boyne.

Then Raging Bull ran into tougher times. He raced five times a year at four and five, in Grade 1 races every single time. However, he never quite broke through as the best older turf miler.

He tried. He always tried. But he only won one of those 10 starts, the 2020 Shoemaker Mile (G1). That day, he settled well off the leaders and got lucky enough to catch a pace collapse, which put him in front from the upper stretch.

Otherwise, fragments from the short comments in the past performances told the story — "late run," "belatedly," "up place," "some gain." Though his turn of foot looked sharp on his best day, he didn't have as much tactical finesse as his foes. He was too far out of the fight for too long. He kept running out of time.

At six, Raging Bull is still in training and he has showed a new dimension. In the Maker's Mark Mile (G1) April 9 at Keeneland, a race in which he had been defeated twice before, perhaps Raging Bull decided to channel his namesake.

What was LaMotta's greatest asset in the boxing ring? He didn't shy from the fight. His fighting style was all about being right there, up with his opponent. LaMotta took it on the chin, literally. He was tough enough to take punch after punch from his opponent, stay on his feet, and keep himself in close enough range to land his blows. If they weren't as tough as LaMotta, they were going to go down sooner or later.

Most of them weren't as tough at LaMotta. He won 83 of his 106 fights, but that was only part of the story. LaMotta bragged that he was the boxer no one could knock down. For 101 fights — his first 102, minus the one everyone knew he threw so the mob would give him a title shot — the toughness that earned him the name "Bronx Bull" kept him on his feet. It took until LaMotta's fourth-to-last fight for him to hit the mat in a fair fight.

In the Maker's Mark Mile, a torrid pace unfolded in front of Raging Bull, thanks to Get Smokin, Somelikeithotbrown, and Flying Scotsman. But, instead of racing near the rear, Raging Bull stayed in touch — midpack, along the fence, and in the fight.

Instead of waiting until the turn for home, Raging Bull kicked on from the three-eighths pole and began to swallow up ground along the rail. At the quarter pole, the leaders could feel him breathing. Just past it, Raging Bull was gone. He crossed the wire two lengths clear of Ride a Comet, a knockout margin in a Grade 1 race.

Now that he's put himself in the fight, Raging Bull looks more primed than ever to land some more knockout blows in the turf mile division.